Humphrey shows both the coolness and the patient compassion of an older sister in the scenes she’s in. Eikner lit up the stage with her energy and enthusiasm, revealing the insecurities and vulnerabilities of her character. Kabillio acutely displays her character’s loneliness in many devastating outbursts. Ashby quietly mediates conflict but lets out a flood of desperate emotion in a plea for togetherness.

Goddard effortlessly shifts between anger, sadness, pain and devastation. The actors brilliantly portray the complications of girlhood. The play’s consistent emotional poignancy felt like a validation of the inexplicable anger of girlhood: of transitioning from a naive child into a teen with something to say. Anger at each other, collective anger towards Jackson and his actions and anger at the world for not understanding their experiences. Throughout every scene, each character is charged with emotions: grief, worry and, most of all, anger. If there were one word to describe this play, it would be anger. All four craft a secret plan to kill Jackson because of their shared fear that no one would believe them. Unwanted sexual advances from Jackson, Emmy’s stepbrother, plague three of the girls. Thea (Weinberg sophomore Zakyra Ashby) is compassionate, caring and worried.Īmid an involved conversation, the play starts when they are discovered in the sandbox by Alix (Communication junior Caroline Humphrey), Harper’s stern yet compassionate older sister.īest friends spending the summer after fifth grade on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the girls bicker for the majority of the play, and while the arguments seem innocent and even petty at first, the dark reasons behind their outbursts slowly burn through. Emmy (Communication sophomore Ani Kabillio) is guarded and ambitious. Hanna (Communication sophomore Nastia Goddard is headstrong, dramatic and, sometimes, authentic to a fault. Harper (Communication sophomore Nora James Eikner) is energized with a need to prove herself. In the first scene of the play, four girls emerge from darkness. The show, directed by Communication sophomore Kate Horton and produced by Communication sophomore Wylde Laden, played Friday and Saturday at Shanley Pavilion.

Written by Communication senior Frances Mary McKittrick, “Blood Pact” explores the reality of a girlhood filled with anger and struggle. Vertigo Productions’ “Blood Pact” points a lens on the darker aspects of girlhood, where friendship bracelets are weaved with anger and dyed with blood. Content warning: This story contains mention of sexual assault.įorget summer camps and tie-dye T-shirts.

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